Chapter 2 cover photo credits: Mark Henley / Panos Picture

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2 | Son bias

Societal gender inequities also play an important 

role in perpetuating son bias. Osaranen (2008) notes that 

female foeticide is perceived by many women as a ‘sober 

acknowledgement  of  the  miseries  they  suffer  in  oppressive 

patriarchal societies’ and can even be seen as a positive deed. 

‘It is better they die than live like me’ or, as one reproductive 

health professional in India noted: ‘You can’t wish away 

centuries of thinking by saying boys and girls are equals … It 

is better to get rid of an unwanted child than to make it suffer 

all its life.’ 

Demographic variables also shape son bias practices. 

Education appears to play an important role (Fuse, 2008). 

Mothers married to illiterate husbands are approximately 

10 times more likely to prefer a son compared with those 

married to highly educated husbands; women’s education and 

access to media at individual and village levels are strongly 

associated with weaker son preference (Pande and Astone, 

2007). There is also some limited evidence that son bias is more 

prevalent in rural areas (except in Latin America). Pande and 

Astone (2007) argue that, in spatially disadvantaged locales, 

such as remote mountainous villages, there is likely to be a 

greater need for sons as a source of physical protection, given 

the likely absence of public authorities that can protect them 

from violent attackers. 

3. Impacts of son preference on poverty 

dynamics 

Son preference can have a range of impacts on gendered poverty 

dynamics. The best-researched are those on mortality and sex 

ratios, but a number of other effects also shape the poverty and 

vulnerability trajectories of girls across their life-course, and 

potentially  those  of  their  offspring.  These  include  nutrition 

and health status, educational status, time use, involvement 

in child labour and psychosocial well-being. We discuss each 

of these in turn below, drawing on a range of quantitative and 

qualitative evidence from global studies. 

Mortality and biased sex ratios

In a number of countries (largely in Asia and North Africa), 

girls face discrimination even before birth, evidenced by 

high rates of abortions and orphaned girls as a result of the 

preference to raise sons rather than daughters.

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 Since Sen’s 

100 million missing women estimate, other studies have found 

that this figure (calculated on the basis of the number of sex-

specific abortions or foeticide combined with the number of 

female deaths owing to inadequate health provision as a result 

of sex discrimination) has increased in absolute terms, although 

it has remained the same as a proportion of the population, 

matching population growth between 1990 and 2000 (Klasen 

and Wink, 2003).

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 Increased mortality rates between 1990 

and 2000 owing to sex-selective abortions and unequal access 

to  health  services  were  found  to  be  more  significant  than 

mortality resulting from under-nutrition (ibid).

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 The resultant 

effects  of  increasing  sex  ratios  (calculated  as  the  number  of 

males divided by the number of females in a given population) 

Box 10: Traditional proverbs about son bias

 

‘With one son you have a descendant, with 10 daughters you 

have nothing’ (Vietnamese proverb)

‘Raising a daughter is like watering your neighbour’s garden’ 

(Punjabi proverb)

‘She is a true wife who has borne a son’ (Indian scripture – 

Manu Smriti)

‘The birth of a girl grant elsewhere, here grant a son’ (Indian 

ancient text – Atharva Veda)

‘The birth of a boy is welcomed with shouts of joys and 

firecrackers but when a girl is born the neighbours say 

nothing’ (Chinese saying)

‘When a son is born, Let him sleep on the bed, Clothe him 

with fine clothes, And give him jade to play […] When a 

daughter is born, Let her sleep on the ground, Wrap her in 

common wrappings, And give broken tiles to play’ (China Book 

of Songs, 1000-700 BC)

‘Oh God I beg of you, I touch your feet time and again, Next 

birth don’t give me a daughter, Give me Hell instead’ (Uttar 

Pradesh folk song) 

‘Abu-banat [father of daughters]’ (Arabic insult)

‘May you die’ (approximate translation for an ‘endearment’ in 

parts of Pakistan)

Box 11: Religious underpinnings of son bias

 

According to Confucian belief, family lineage can be continued 

only through a male child. One of the three grave unfilial 

acts is to fail to have a son (UNFPA and ISDS, 2007). When a 

Hindu or Sikh parent dies, a son must carry out the last rites; 

if not, the very devout believe they will not reach heaven. And 

although girls have some importance in Hinduism – giving 

away a daughter in marriage (kanyadaan) is considered 

meritorious – sons are perceived to carry on family lineage 

in a way daughters cannot (Pande and Astone, 2007). In the 

case of Islam, although Ebenstein and Leung (2010) note 

that there is evidence in the theological literature of lower 

degrees of daughter aversion than in Hinduism, Muslim law 

does sanction inheritances for sons which are doubly as large 

as those of daughters (IRIN, 2005). In parts of Africa, sons 

are also preferred in order to perpetuate the family name and 

perform their parents’ burial rites, whereas a girl loses her 

identity with marriage (Ebenstein and Leung, 2010).

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